Gallery: Some of those who died in 2011

Jan. 2: Pete Postlethwaite, the British actor, was nominated for an Oscar in 1993 for In the Name of the Father. He recently appeared in Inception and Clash of the Titans. He died in hospital in Shropshire, England, after a long illness. He was 64.

Jan. 4: Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit vendor who set himself on fire in December to protest government indifference succumbed to his injuries but gave birth to a protest movement that swept across North Africa. He died in Tunis. He was 26.

Jan. 8: Peter Donaldson, the longtime Stratford actor died in Toronto after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 58.

Jan. 12: Sgt. Ryan Russell of the Toronto Police Service was killed when he was hit by a stolen snow plow in downtown Toronto while trying to stop the vehicle. He was 35.

Jan. 23: Jack LaLanne, the American fitness guru had an exercise program on television from 1951 to 1985. He died of complications of pneumonia at his home in California. He was 96.

Jan. 23: Elizabeth Buhler, thought to be Canada’s oldest living person, died a few weeks short of her 112 birthday in a nursing home in Winkler, Man.

Feb. 16: Len Lesser, the American actor best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld’s eccentric uncle, Leo. He died of cancer at a facility in Burbank, California. He was 88.

Feb. 28: Jane Russell. American movie actor from the 1940s and 1950s was a best known for the movie the Outlaw. She died of respiratory problems at her California home. She was 89.

March 3: Jim Travers. Canadian political columnist for the Toronto Star and former editor of the Ottawa Citizen. He died in Ottawa of complications following surgery. He was 62.

March 15: Nate Dogg (pictured centre). Hip-hop artist born as Nathaniel D. Hale, he was a powerful voice in gangsta rap music in the 1990s and early 2000s. He died at a long-term care facility in Long Beach, California, where he lived following a series of strokes. He was 41.

March 23: Elizabeth Taylor. Lengendary American actress was known for her marriages, AIDS activism and personal style as much for her acting. She died of congestive heart failure in hospital in Los Angeles. She was 79.

March 26: Roger Abbott (pictured left). Founding member of the Canadian comedy troop Air Farce that ran on radio or television from 1973 to 2008. He died in hospital in Toronto after a 14-year battle with leukemia. He was 64.

April 16: Allan Blakeney. Former NDP premier of Saskatchewan, he is credited with creating medicare as a young cabinet minister in the 1960s. As premier, he nationalized the potash industry and other resource companies and played a key role in constitutional negotiations between the provinces and federal government. He died of cancer in Saskatoon . He was 85.

April 17: Wes Richardson. Saskatchewan curler who played on a family team and won many Canadian and World titles in the 1950s and 1960s. He died of cancer in Hawaii, where he retired.

April 21: Ken Kostick (pictured right). Canadian celebrity chef and cookbook author, best known for his cooking show What’s for Dinner? He died in hospital in Toronto of pancreatitis. He was 57.

May 2: Danny Kassap. A Toronto-based marathon runner originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He died in hospital hours after pulling out of a 10K race in Toronto because he felt unwell. He was 28.

May 7: Severiano (Seve) Ballesteros. Charismatic Spanish golfer who won both the British Open and the Masters in his early 20s. He died of brain cancer at his home in Pedrena, Spain. He was 54.

May 7: Willard Boyle (pictured left). Canadian scientist who helped invent the charge-coupled device (CCD), an integral part of digital camera technology. He won the 2009 Nobel Prize for physics. He died of kidney illness in Truro, N.S. He was 86.

May 13: Wallace McCain. New Brunswick-born co-founder of McCain Foods and later chairman of Maple Leaf Foods, he built both into giants in the frozen food business. He died in Toronto of pancreatic cancer. He was 81.

May 27: Gil Scott-Heron. American poet/musician whose songs include The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and The Bottle is considered a grandfather of hip-hop. He died in New York City of undisclosed causes. He was 62.

May 29: Brodie Snyder. Former sports editor at the Montreal Gazette, he also wrote two books on the Montreal Expos baseball team. He suffered a heart attack at his retirement home in Montreal. He was 81.

June 3: James Arness (pictured centre). American actor who played Marshal Matt Dillon on the television program Gunsmoke for 20 years. He died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home. He was 88.

June 17: Betty Fox. The mother of one-legged runner Terry Fox, she established the Terry Fox Foundation that raises money for cancer research, mostly with annual Terry Fox runs. She died of unknown causes at her Vancouver-area home. She suffered from diabetes and arthritis. She was 73.

June 20: Ryan Dunn. American reality actor of the Jackass television series and movies of the same name. He died in a car accident, possibly caused by alcohol, near his home in West Goshen, Pennsylvania. He was 34.

June 28: Garrett Styles. Police constable with the Toronto-area York Regional Police, he was killed when a Dodge Caravan ran him over during a routine traffic stop on a rural highway near East Gwillimbury, Ont. A 15-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with his death. He was 32.

July 5: Malcolm Forsyth (pictured left). South African-born Canadian classical musician and composer, Forsyth died just weeks after his last work A Ballad of Canada debuted at the National Arts Centre. He died of cancer in hospital in Edmonton. He was 74.

July 7: Richard (Dick) Oland. A New Brunswick businessman from the family that ran Moosehead Breweries, he was found slain at his office in Saint John. Oland was 69.

August 11: Jani Lane, born John Kennedy Oswald, the American singer with the heavy metal band Warrant was found dead in a hotel room in Woodland Hills, California. He was 47.

August 14: Shawn Tompkins. Popular mixed martial arts trainer died of a heart attack in his sleep in Hamilton, Ont. He was 37.

August 15: Rick Rypien. NHL hockey player best known for his fighting during his years in Vancouver, he had recently signed to play with the Winnipeg Jets. He was found dead in his home in Coleman, Alberta. He suffered from depression. He was 27.

Aug. 15: Solomon Mujuru. He led the military forces that helped end white minority rule in what is now Zimbabwe, then became head of the African country’s armed forces and a member of parliament as well as a wealthy businessman. He died in a house fire at his farm. He was 67.